‘There’s lot of temptation to sign films’

Debarati Palit

Tuesday, 3 April 2018

During her recent visit to Sakal Times office, Sonnalli Seygall couldn’t stop raving about her film High Jack, director Akarsh Khurana, and her co-stars

Sonnalli Seygall calls her next project High Jack a “mad” film. Produced by Phantom films in association with Viu, High Jack, directed by Akarsh Khurana, is being touted as a stoner comedy. “The core emotion of the film is crazy. It’s a not a big film, so it’s quick. We have so many actors and it’s set in a plane. Whatever the trailer showed is just glimpse,” says the Pyar Ka Punchnama actress.

The actress has a small part in it and she says that when Akarsh had offered the film, he wanted her for nothing more than a guest appearance. “I had read the script while travelling from Kolkata to Darjeeling. I was hooked on to it in the first paragraph and I couldn’t stop reading it. It was really funny and I was like, ‘I have to do this film’,” she says. The actress adds, “When I met Akarsh, I told him that I didn’t need any guest appearance tag. Only stars get such tags and I’m not one yet. He can give me such credit when I become a star. Now I’m happy being an actor and sharing the screen with so many other wonderful actors in this film.”

Sonnalli is playing the role of a pilot in the film, a character she has never played before. “The characters I have played so far were a little bit glamorous, but in this one I am just sitting and flying the plane at the gunpoint. She is calm and the only one who is not high,” says the actor.
High Jack stars Sumeet Vyas, Mantra, Kumud Mishra and many others. The film is slated to release on April 20.

Sonnalli says that she was under a lot of performance pressure because Akarsh and the rest of the actors were from theatre background. “I just wanted to perform well. But it was sheer fun working with them, in fact, it was hilarious. There were a lot of women on the set, so it was female-dominated team,” she says.

Being part of High Jack was also a different experience, she recalls. “There were no vanity vans, unlike the other films I have been part of. There was a big room where we used to chill out, do our make-up, and take rest. It literally felt like hanging out in the backstage while doing a play. It was an interesting experience. We just felt like telling a good story,” she says.

Sonnalli’s last film Wedding Pullav released in 2015. Isn’t she in a rush to sign films? She replies, “When films are being offered to me, more than choosing from them, I actually reject them. Trust me, there’s a lot of temptation to sign films because I think, ‘I am sitting at home for 2 years and let me do this film’. Still I have rejected a Hate Story film. I know which ones I don’t want to do in spite of fact that I haven’t worked for two years. But there’s other stuff like theatre, commercials, and so on, that keeps me busy and I would rather wait for a good film.”

There are various reasons for which she rejects a film. “Sometimes the story is good but the sensibilities are not, or I might not like the part they are offering me,” she says.

But waiting for the right project can be frustrating for an actor. “My tolerance and patience level is very high, and I am too positive to think about negative stuff. I have faith in God,” says the actress who will be next seen in a romantic comedy.